For a guy that ended his four-year college career with 19.5 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss, Prince Shembo doesn’t get a lot of credit for his pass-rushing ability. The Falcons thought enough of it to make him their second fourth-round pick on Saturday and the 6-foot-1 edge rusher could turn into a defensive weapon for the Falcons.
Playing as a 3-4 outside linebacker at Notre Dame, Shembo was often asked to do a lot of different things for the defense, and while they had team success, Shembo thinks a role in the NFL that allows him to use some of his physical gifts more frequently should be a positive.
“I just felt like I wasn’t let loose as much as I could’ve been,” Shembo said. “It was a great defense overalll, as a team defense. I know my ability and what I can do and I feel like the ceiling is high for myself.”
Shembo is described as a player that plays with an edge, a “hair-on-fire” kind of guy and that’s the urgency he will bring to the Falcons. At Notre Dame, Shembo wasn’t always able to lean on his natural abilities, but it’s those abilities that got him drafted and the Falcons hope he’ll use them to sack some quarterbacks.